United Kingdom: Inflation comes in at highest level since January 2024 in June
Latest reading: Inflation came in at 3.6% in June, which was up from May’s 3.4%. June’s reading marked the highest inflation rate since January 2024 and overshot market expectations. The acceleration was broad-based, with greater price pressures recorded for recreation and culture, transportation, and food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Core inflation ticked up to 3.7% in June from the previous month’s 3.5%. Moreover, services inflation—a closely watched metric by the Bank of England—was elevated at an unchanged 4.7%.
Finally, consumer prices increased 0.32% in June over the previous month, accelerating from the 0.17% rise logged in May.
Panelist insight: Digging deeper into the data, Nomura analysts said:
“Seasonally adjusted services price momentum has remained uncomfortably high, despite the annual rate remaining unchanged in June. […] services momentum remains some way off from where it needs to be to bring core inflation to the 2% target sustainably.”